One morning as I was preparing to teach a Sunday School lesson, I came to the well-known verses of Romans 5:3-4: “...tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.” Hopeless anguish roiled through me regarding current circumstances and how I was desperately trying to be patient. Then it occurred to me that I was looking at the experience incorrectly. I quickly wrote down my definition as an acrostic poem:
Paying
Attention
To
Individual
Events
Noting
Triumphs
“Counting coup for my accomplishments doesn’t give much peace,” I thought. Rereading the verses I contemplated the difference between “patient” and “patience”. This time I came up with
Power
Atoning
Total
Individual
Efforts
Needing
Christ’s
Example
That brought glimpses of hope! Over the next few days I continued to reread the verses and looked up footnote references. I reread my highlighted sections of conference talks. With prayer and meditation I wrote and rewrote acrostic poems for other key words, like hope, experience, and tribulation. Sometimes I even physically stretched for five to ten minutes before reading scriptures. With heart pumping, air circulating, and mind alert, it was like getting a full-body massage where every part of my being was touched, kneaded, and relaxed. Mental doubts and intellectual knots were softened, to be stripped of misconceptions. Body and soul felt more physically and spiritually in tune.
This process helped me break old cycles that held me back. Now instead of a formidable struggle of trying to be patient, I am grateful for the added virtue of peace that energizes my soul with patience.
Power of prayer
Activating
Testimony that
Invites
Energy
Necessary to
Counsel through and
Endure experiences
